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Social Justice Seeks to Make the Gospel Relevant, Which is Why It’s Another Gospel

Darrel B. Harrison wrote in a Facebook post that Jesus doesn’t call us to become social-justice warriors in order to fix the problems of the world. Fixing the problems of the world was never Christ’s intent. It was His intent to save sinners. He will fix those problems, but not until His second coming.

While reading that post, it occurred to me that the reason so many are trying to latch on to becoming social-justice warriors within the church is because they think that it gives legitimacy to Christianity. No longer is Christianity an embarrassment to them. It’s now a religion that can fix the problem. But that is not true Christianity. It is simply the old whore of liberalism with a new dress and lipstick. It is another religion all together, as Machen showed in his book Christianity and Liberalism.

The reality is that SJWs are ashamed of the gospel. They find it to be weak, and powerless to change anything, so they feel they have to up the ante and make Christianity useful again. This says more about the gospel in their lives than it does about Christianity in culture.

We should not be surprised when we see those in the church latch on to the SJW movement. This is who these people are. They have shown us that they are not in Christianity for Christ and the salvation that He offers, but because it makes them feel significant. We have seen them time-and-time again in the church.

Just think of all the movements that have taken place in the church over the past 30 years. The people who filled these movements are the same ones who will become SJW’s. It is who they are.

They were the ones who jumped on board with Henry Blackaby’s Experiencing God, because they didn’t really experience God. They were all over Purpose Driven Life/Church, because they lacked real purpose. They all renewed their broken promises with the Promise Keepers, because they knew the promises they made would not be kept.

These were the same people who thought it was a good idea to change worship in the seeker-sensitive movement, even though the Bible proclaimed that there are none who seek God (Romans 3:11). They then jumped on board with the emergents, hoping that this would satisfy. When Mel Gibson presented his interpretation of Christ’s death in The Passion, these people were right there lacking discernment, thinking that finally, Christianity would make a difference via a movie. But it failed as well, because none of these movements are of God Himself. The church is not built by movements. It is not built by the next-great thing because these things are another gospel all together.

The gospel itself is the proclamation of what Christ had done for His children. He lived the perfect life, according to God’s Law, and died on the cross to pay the debt of sin we owe God. He is the satisfaction of our debt, and our satisfaction. He did not come to bring Utopia. As J.C. Ryle wrote, “heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people.” Jesus came to save those people. He did not come to bring about the darkened vision of the Social Justice Warriors. The justice they seek is no real justice at all, because they do not seek the justice we need which is found on the cross of Christ.

For SJWs, the church is small and insignificant, and it is. This is because Christ came to save the poor, those who mourn, those who are meek, those who are of no estimation in sight of the world. Yet, this is not what SJWs long for. They want to be significant and thought well of by the world. Never mind that Jesus warned against this very thing: “Woe to you when al men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.”For those who do not know, a “woe” is an oracle of doom. Jesus is pronouncing doom on those who seek the favor of all men.

Sadly, this is what those who populate all these movements and who become SJWs want. Not all of them, I grant you. There will be those who are true believers who get mixed up in such garbage. But if they are true believers, they will see how empty the movements really are, and will hunger and thirst for righteousness.Something that a movement cannot give.

What the SJWs lack, is an eternal view. The life of the believer is never to be focused on the here and the now, but on eternity. This failure doesn’t fall just on SJWs, but most believers in America. We think America is heaven on earth, and fight for it as if it is. But it is not the Kingdom of heaven. Christ’s Kingdom is not of the world, and while it has been established, much of the promises of the Kingdom lie in the future. It is why the writer of Hebrews commended his audience. They were willing to suffer in the present while looking forward to the future hope of the Kingdom to come.

…for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven (Hebrews 10:34).

This is lost on SJWs. They are swept along by every wind of doctrine and easily moved because their faith is not in Christ, or grounded in His word. They may claim Christ, but not the Christ of Scripture, who actually proclaims oracles of doom on those who do not follow Him. SJWs like the idea of Christianity, but not the idea of Christ, because He does not call us to change the world, and for these people, that bothers them. They want to be given a call to make a difference, and Jesus doesn’t do that. Instead, He calls us to die to ourselves, and follow Him to the cross. That is not a call to change the culture at all. Only Jesus can do that, and He has decreed it not to be (at least at this time).

Jesus is the One who makes the difference, and will not share His glory with another, in this regard. Therefore we fix our eyes upon Him, and trust in Him, not our ability to bring change. As the Psalmist says,

Do not fret because of evildoers,Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,And wither as the green herb.

3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.4 Delight yourself also in the Lord,And He shall give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:1-4).

Notice, if change comes, it’s not by our hands, but by God’s hand. He has to bring the change. Only Christ can do so. Therefore, trust in Him, not the fretting of the SJWs. They will never understand the purposes of Christ until they turn to Him and see His ways are not our ways, His wisdom is not our wisdom. His Kingdom is not of this world and will not be brought about through politics, but through the preaching of His word.

My point in all this is that many in the church will latch onto the SJW movement, just as they have with so many other movements in the past. Movements in the church, are not of God. They are not revivals as some claim. They are merely the fretting of men, focusing on their own endeavors. We need to resist these movements and trust in God to work through the ordinary means of grace to grow us spiritually and reach the lost. Our trust must be in HIM, not our own ability to generate a movement. For in creating a movement, is to make another gospel all together. The gospel of Christ is that He saves sinners. The gospel of the movement is that we save sinners by our actions. The only difference between the SJWs and the other movements I have mentioned, is that SJWs has more potential to harm both culture and the church. They won’t rest with just being heard. They want action, and that will eventually mean silencing those who get in their way. Far too many people in the church will fail to see this, and join this movement, thinking that they will bring about real change. But again, it’s just the same whore of liberalism, given a new dress and some lipstick. It’s not the gospel of Christ at all.

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5 thoughts on “Social Justice Seeks to Make the Gospel Relevant, Which is Why It’s Another Gospel”

I think that at the core of all of this is faithlessness at best. At worst, they serve a made-up god too weak to do anything and so they figured they’d bring about their Marxist Utopia themselves. That, plus they have mistaken their this-life-now-only cause with a religion. Islam would conflate with their cause much better, but as Americans, I guess they saw Christianity as laying around gathering dust anyway, why not use it?